Striping mechanism for knitting-machines



(No Model.)

Patented Mar. 10,1891.

fi Lilllllllll WITNEEEEE- @2 66 #UNITED STATES ATENT 'FFICE.

JOHN BRADLEY, OF NORTH OHELMSFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

STRIPING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,007, dated March10, 1891.

Application filed April 29, 1890. Serial No. 3%,924. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN BRADLEY, of N orth Chelmsford, in the county ofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Striping Mechanism for Knitting-Machines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to knitting-machines designed to knit plush-faced.fabrics-that 1s, fabrics having a body knitted in any suitable way and aso-called. plush yarn locked or knitted into the body fabric at suitableintervals, but yet so as to float on one surface of the body fabric andform a lofty face thereon. As fabrics of the kind mentioned are used theplush face becomes the right side. The plush thread or yarn is usuallyintroduced by means of a filling-wheel, so called, which lays the yarnto form the plush or fleece behind certain needles and in front ofothers, which position permits of its being locked or looped with thebody fabric formed from the yarn introduced by the ordinary loop orstitch wheel. The filling-wheel is arranged at an angle with respect tothe needles contrary to that at which the stitch-Wheel is arranged, andis consequently revolved in a contrary di rection, carrying the yarncontrolled by it down upon the needles,while the stitch-wheel carriesits yarn upward on the stems of the needles.

It is frequently desirable that the plush or fleece face should beformed in varying colors or designs, and it is to meet this end that mypresent improvement has been contrived, which improvement consists incombining a striping mechanism-that is, a mechanism employingyarn-guides which maybe thrown into and out of action inanypredetermined order-with a filling-wheel.

The invention will first be described in connection with theaccompanying drawings and the letters of reference markedthereon,forming a part of this specification, and then be pointed out inthe claim appended to the general description.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a top view of a circular-knittingmachine equipped with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a detail i11 perspective, showin g a portion of the yarn-gin des, the filling-wheel, andcooperative parts. Flg. 3 is a sectional view showing the manner inwhich the yarn-guides may be actuated to bring them into and throw themout of operation.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In the drawings, a designates a needle-cylinder, b the needles, 0 theordinary yarn-guide, d the stitch-wheel, e the presser-wheel, and f thepush-back, all of which may be-of common construction, and which, withthe landing and knocking-over wheels, may be employed to produce anordinary knitted web.

9 designates the filling-wheel, so called, which is plugged between itsleaves or wings, as at h, in order that it may press back the needles atits plugged point and lay the yarn fed by the wheel in front of theneedles so pressed back, while the nibs on the wings t' will carry theyarn over and down behind the needles with which they oo-operate.

Instead of feeding but a single yarn to the filling-wheel, asheretofore, I employ a striping mechanism to feed various colored yarnsautomatically at predetermined intervals to the fillingwheel, ashereinbefore stated. The said striping mechanism may be of any suitableform or organization. As herein shown, it consists of reciprocatingyarn-guides j, controlled in their operation by a pattern-plate 7a,which is actuated by a lever Z, carrying a pawl m, the said leverbeingmoved byacam 7' on the knitting-head a, as is common in such devices.

Then in the rotation of pattern-plate 7s a pin 3 in the face thereof isbrought under the heel t of a yarn-guidej the forward end of the guidewill be lowered into action, and when the said pin passes from under theheel of the yarn-guide the spring it, connected at one end to a lug 4;,extending above the pivotal point of the yarn-guide and at the other endto a stationary part of the machine or frame, will operate to raise theforward end of the guide out of operative position, carrying the heel 15down upon the plain face of the pattern-plate, as is clearly shown inFig.

\Vhen it is desired to bring a particular yarn into position to be fedto the needles by the filling-wheel, the end of the yarn-guide carryingsuch yarn is lowered, so as thatthe Wingsiof the filling wheel may catchthe yarn and introduce it to the needles, as before described, and

when the yarn is to be changed the yarn-guide loweredinto operativeposition will be raised, so that the stitch-wheel will not catch thethread being carried by it, and another yarnguide will be lowered intoposition occupied by the first-nam ed guide. hen a yarn is thrown out ofaction by the raising of the forward end of a yarn-guide, such yarn Willbe caught between two wings 't' of the filling-wheel and be carried overand down upon the face of the Wheel under a spring-finger n and betweenthe herein shown, as well as a striping mechanism of different form andarrangement, without departing from the nature or spirit of myinvention.

Having thus explained the nature of my invention and described meanswhereby it may be used, I declare that what I claim is The combination,with a needle cylinder and needles, of a filling-wheel adapted to lay ayarn behind certain needles and in front of others, a plurality ofyarn-guides, and means for throwing said yard-guides into and out ofaction with relation to the filling-Wheel and needles, as set forth Intestimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, this 26th day 0t 40 April, A. D.1890.

JOHN BRADLEY.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR W. CROSSLEY, A. D. HARRISON.

